TMC
01-18-2014, 06:24 AM
http://www.wewantinsanity.com/am2/publish/Peter_Dawson/When_Good_Shows_Go_Bad_C_S_I.shtml
Anthony Zuiker, a guy who had spent most of his life living in Los Angeles, was just a tram driver when, after watching The New Detectives on the Discovery Channel, decided to write a screenplay. Jerry Bruckheimer (producer of such films as Top Gun, The Rock and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise) thought the screenplay worked better as a TV pilot. NBC, ABC and Fox passed. CBS, depending on your source, seemed only interested in doing it when William Petersen (Manhunter, To Live and Die in LA), who had a pay or play contract with the company, said he wanted in. Execs also claim they loved it right away regardless, but despite who you might believe Petersen did end up being an executive producer from the start so it is very possible he's why the show got started. In any event, CSI premiered on October 6, 2000, following expected mega-hit The Fugitive (the 2nd incarnation of the TV show following the success of the film seven years earlier), and would go on to be television's most watched show in 2002. It's fifth season averaged over twenty-six million viewers. Today the show only averages around twelve-and-a-half million, but when the most watched show on TV for the season is only hitting around seventeen million that still isn't a bad number. - See more at: http://www.wewantinsanity.com/am2/publish/Peter_Dawson/When_Good_Shows_Go_Bad_C_S_I.shtml#sthash.KdzMZC5J.dpuf
Anthony Zuiker, a guy who had spent most of his life living in Los Angeles, was just a tram driver when, after watching The New Detectives on the Discovery Channel, decided to write a screenplay. Jerry Bruckheimer (producer of such films as Top Gun, The Rock and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise) thought the screenplay worked better as a TV pilot. NBC, ABC and Fox passed. CBS, depending on your source, seemed only interested in doing it when William Petersen (Manhunter, To Live and Die in LA), who had a pay or play contract with the company, said he wanted in. Execs also claim they loved it right away regardless, but despite who you might believe Petersen did end up being an executive producer from the start so it is very possible he's why the show got started. In any event, CSI premiered on October 6, 2000, following expected mega-hit The Fugitive (the 2nd incarnation of the TV show following the success of the film seven years earlier), and would go on to be television's most watched show in 2002. It's fifth season averaged over twenty-six million viewers. Today the show only averages around twelve-and-a-half million, but when the most watched show on TV for the season is only hitting around seventeen million that still isn't a bad number. - See more at: http://www.wewantinsanity.com/am2/publish/Peter_Dawson/When_Good_Shows_Go_Bad_C_S_I.shtml#sthash.KdzMZC5J.dpuf